You Get What You Give
by xCatseyesx
Summary: A different take on the episode "Original Song". Rachel Quinn conversation after sectionals.
1. Chapter 1

**So I tweaked this a little bit. For those who haven't read, this is an alternative take on the episode "Original Song", originally written before the episode and now edited after. I am thinking of continuing this so if anyone is interested please review since I love getting them!**

***SPOILER WARNING* **

**I am on the American showings so if you are watching the UK timetable and do not want part of the plot revealed, turn away now! :P **

**As always all characters belong to the creators of Glee, I am just adding a little extra**

The applause in the theatre was deafening. The crowd was on their feet, putting their hands together for the spectacular performance just given by New Directions. Rachel basked in their attention as she too applauded. She had sung the best she could, they all had. Rachel continued to clap as she turned to beam at her team mates. Whatever the result, the team truly had put their whole hearts and souls into this performance and had really come together. Tina, Zizes and Mercedes were in a tight circle with Puck, all four jumping up and down with excitement. Santana had her face buried into Brittany's shoulder, the latina sobbing uncontrollably against the tall blonde girl whose arms were wrapped tightly around her. Sam was doing some kind of victory dance with Mike at the front while Artie wheeled behind them, waving a foam hand that had somehow ended up on the stage. Rachel's gaze fell onto Fin and she felt another twinge of hurt. The tall boy had Quinn in his arms and was spinning her around, a look of such adoration plastered on his face that Rachel had to look away. As the judges began to exit their seats to deliberate, Rachel took the opportunity to run to the bathroom with intention of sorting her appearance and composing herself. She had smudged her eye make-up during her solo and she did not want panda eyes if they were to pose for a winning photo. She had just begun to wipe away some of the residue when the bathroom door opened and Quinn appeared in the mirror behind her.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Rachel was really not up for this. Their prior discussion in the auditorium and her solo during sectionals had left her emotionally drained. Quinn had hurt her with her words

"Look Quinn. You made it perfectly clear earlier; Fin and I will never be together." Rachel sighed tiredly as she applied a fresh layer of mascara, eyes resolutely focussed on the task at hand and not at the blonde standing just a few steps behind her. "I get the message."

"That's not why I said it." Rachel paused mid-stroke, her gaze finally connecting with the hazel eyes which had caused her so much pain. She turned away from the mirror and crossed her arms, eyes fixing on the stoic blonde.

"What do you mean?"

"You just gave the performance of your life out there, you embodied everything within the lyrics and you became that song." Quinn paused. "Do you remember when you sang "Give's You Hell"?" Rachel huffed impatiently. She remembered every performance she had ever given, even the ones from one of Mr Schuster's weekly assignments.

"Of course I do but what has that got to do with today? "

"You were angry at Fin for the way he treated you. You channelled all your emotions into your performance and it worked, I mean it REALLY worked." Quinn gave Rachel a shy smile which the brunette did not return. "I meant what I said in the choir room yesterday, you are an amazing and talented individual who doesn't get the full credit you deserve." Rachel still had no idea where Quinn was going with this and she was beginning to become frustrated with the other girl.

"Quinn-"

The blonde interrupted her with a raised hand.

"Please. I need to say this to you."

Rachel tried to read the other girl's stoic expression. If this was leading to another verbal assault, she wanted to be prepared for it. Having found nothing in the blonde's demeanour that would suggest an oncoming attack, Rachel nodded to the blonde and Quinn continued.

"You wrote a great song for today Rachel but every time you sung it in rehearsals, you were still clinging to the hope that you and Fin might get back together." The blonde lowered her lashes "And that held you back." Rachel's heartbeat began to pound and, as if she could hear, Quinn started to fidget with the ribbon on her dress.

"However a good actress you may be, I know that one of your songs becomes twice as powerful if you can properly relate to it. Fin and I realised pretty quickly that what we used to have was no longer there. We ended it last week."

Rachel's mouth went dry and she watched in horror as Quinn's eyes started to glisten.

"I kept up the premise that we were still seeing each other so it would hurt you, so that you were in that moment, living and feeling every word of "Get it Right". I knew you were a strong enough person to take all of your hurt and pain and channel them into delivering a winning solo."

Quinn's voice cracked, just like it had in the auditorium when she told Rachel she didn't belong here. "I am so sorry Rachel. You have every right to hate me for my actions and I don't know where this leaves us." And again, just as quickly as she had displayed emotion, the blonde retracted it, her stoic mask back in place.

Rachel was rooted to the spot, her mind trying desperately to process what she had just been told. She wasn't even aware that the blonde had moved towards her until she felt a soft hand rest lightly on her shoulder. The brunette flinched at the uncharacteristically gentle touch but made no effort to shove the hand away. Quinn's dropped to a breathy whisper but Rachel could still hear every word.

"I just hope that you can someday forgive me." The hand was removed and Quinn exited the bathroom, the roar of the crowd accompanying her before the door shut, once again leaving Rachel alone in silence. The brunette had yet to move, her body as bewildered as her mind. She wasn't exactly sure what emotion she was currently feeling. Hurt and anger were definitely there but they were also joined by confusion and something unidentifiable. Quinn didn't have to tell her this. She could have just left Rachel in the dark and let the brunette assume that Fin and herself were still dating. That's what HBIC Quinn would have done. And head bitch Quinn would never ever apologise to Rachel "Treasure Trail" Berry. True, she had played with the brunette's emotions but If Rachel had known of a way to make a performance better, would she have not gone to extreme lengths to achieve it? Then there was the whole mini breakdown. Rachel knew from Fin that Quinn hated showing emotion, believing that it made her seem vulnerable and weak. The blonde had also asked for her forgiveness, maybe Quinn thought more of Rachel than she let on.

Rachel sighed and shook her head. Only one thing was really certain, it would be a long time before Rachel understood Quinn Fabray.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I decided to continue this on. Normally I have a vague idea of how the story shall progress but in this instance, anything is fair game! I apologise that this is not my best work, I just wanted to push another chapter out to try and get my head to think about the storyline. Suggestions/comments etc are always welcome and I appreciate your input, good or bad. **

**As always all characters belong to the creators of Glee, I'm just adding a little extra.**

I had been almost half a week. Well, 2 days 15 hours and give or take 10 minutes. Not that Rachel was counting. It didn't matter to her that Quinn Fabray, former head cheerio and social queen of the school had all but cornered her in the rest room at regionals, offered her an apology and, for the fleetest of seconds, dropped her icy façade. Rachel watched the blonde's back from corner of her eye as the girl exchanged books from her locker further down the corridor. Quinn had neither approached her nor pointedly avoided her since last week. They shared few classes and, of the ones they did share, Quinn normally sat next to Santana and Rachel did not think this was a topic for the Latina to be made aware of. As Rachel began to go over the blonde's words in her head for about the 20th time this week, Quinn turned unexpectedly and caught her staring. To Rachel's surprise the Quinn gave her a small smile before heading towards the exit. She was so engrossed in the cheerleader that she failed to notice a tall shadow appear behind her.

"Hey Rach!"

"Finn!" The brunette slammed her locker door shut before clutching her chest dramatically and turning to face the now sheepish looking boy.

"Sorry, I thought you saw me."

"Well I didn't! Can you please try to make your presence known without the possibility of a myocardial infarction!"

The boy frowned, mouth slightly agape, obviously trying to process Rachel's extensive vocabulary.

"I'll try?" He shuffled a little, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans before giving her his trademark dopey smile . "Anyways. I was wondering if you fancied going to Breadstix tomorrow night? Since you aren't infectious anymore."

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry, infectious?"

"Didn't you have mono last week?"

Rachel was flabbergasted.

"I most certainly did not have mono!" One of the brunette's hands subconsciously moved to cover her throat. The mere mention of that voice crippling infection was enough to make Rachel want to go home and take a double dose of her emergency antibiotics. "And I was in school last week! AND we performed at Regionals together only 3 days ago!"

"Oh yeah…I did wonder why you were in…I was gonna talk to you but I didn't want to catch-"

"Finn!" Rachel cut him off with a stomp of her foot, she was beginning to get annoyed with the dim-witted boy. He could be sweet and thoughtful but sometimes she wished he didn't have the attention span of a puppy.

"I never had mono! You can't catch it just by talking to someone anyway!" Her eyes narrowed. "Who told you this?"

"Quinn. She said you were really infectious and to leave you alone to recover."

Rachel zoned out of the quarterbacks rambling. Quinn again. That girl always seemed to have a plan, an endgame. She seemed to have control over any situation, like a master puppeteer surrounded by the strings of countless controllable individuals. Rachel tightened her grip on her folder.

"-and so Sam and I had a call of duty marathon before Regionals instead."

When Rachel's brow creased, the boy's brown eyes widened.

"But we were totally practising on the set list really hard!"

"Finn. When did she tell you this?"

"Erm last week. When we uh…broke up."

So that was it, the real reason behind her personality make-over. Quinn hadn't wanted Finn to go back to Rachel. It was never about producing the perfect song for Regionals, Quinn had only wanted to keep her reputation intact. How could Rachel have been so stupid to believe the blonde's words, it had all been a big lie. She didn't care about the brunettes feelings at all; she probably hadn't even wanted to be friends with Rachel. Quinn had played her again.

"Are you ok?" Finn's voice brought her out of her current train of thought. The tall boy was staring at her, a frown etched upon his features. Rachel focussed on the worry radiating from his eyes and arranged her face into her best Broadway smile.

Finns expression relaxed into one of relief.

"So yeah Breadstix?"

"Sounds great." Rachel answered, keeping her voice as light and cheery as possible, pushing back the hurt and disappointment created by the cheerleader.

"I gotta go to football practice but I'll pick you up at 7?"

She nodded and Fin grinned and waved at her as he ran towards the part of the school containing changing rooms. Rachel secured her bag and turned to walk in the opposite direction. As she began to near the exit, the opening notes of "Defying Gravity" chimed from the front pocket of her backpack. It was a text from her Daddy telling her she'd have to walk home today as he had been called into emergency surgery. She snapped the phone shut and pushed the school doors, she would have to hurry if she wanted to get home in time for Fin later. A couple of cars into the almost empty school car pack brought her to a halt as she spotted Quinn, apparently alone, sitting in her car with the engine off. The blonde was staring into space, unaware that she was again being watched. Rachel grit her teeth and rapped her knuckles against the window jerking the blonde out of her thoughts. As the glass was lowered, hazel eyes came into sharp focus.

"Can I have a word?"

Quinn bit her lip.

"Want a lift?"

Rachel eyed the car suspiciously, her eyes roaming over the empty seat beside Quinn and the cheerleading bag sitting in the back. Quinn arched an eyebrow.

"Don't worry Berry, there isn't anyone hiding in the back seat." She started the engine, a small smile playing on her lips. "This isn't Zombieland."

When Rachel made no move towards the passenger side the blonde sighed.

"Look. I am just offering you a ride to save you a walk home" Her eyes locked on Rachel's. "That's all." She returned her gaze to the windshield and began to drum her fingers on the steering wheel. "You wanted a word anyway so you can talk while I drive."

Rachel debated with herself. It was a long walk home and she had been intending to grab a lift with her Daddy if he hadn't been called into surgery and she would already have to cut her vocal practice from four songs to two if she intended on being ready for Finn at 7. It also looked like it was going to rain and she had forgotten to pack her umbrella, not having checked the forecast the previous evening. With the faintest of sighs, Rachel removed her backpack and slid into the passenger seat, taking extra care to ensure her seat belt was securely fastened.

As the car began to move, Rachel stole a quick glance at Quinn, whose eyebrows were knitted in concentration as she manoeuvred the vehicle from the car park, fat raindrops now hitting windscreen. At least this way she could confront the blonde about her real motivations behind her actions at regional's and settle the matter once and for all. It wasn't like Quinn had planned to give Rachel a ride home, it was all purely circumstantial. She couldn't make it rain? Could she…? The blonde took her eyes away from the red glare of the traffic lights and gave Rachel a small smile. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?


End file.
